Vatican suspends Bangalore priest accused of rape
സൌര്ചെ: UCAN
Activists are now campaigning for reopening of the case.
Bangalore:
The Vatican has suspended a priest of Bangalore archdiocese accused of rape in what is described as a first in India.
Father S Bartholomeow, the parish priest of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Jalahalli in North Bengaluru, was accused in a rape case in 2013 in Kunigal, Tumkur district. The case was subsequently closed after the complainant turned hostile. A
Activists are now campaigning for reopening of the case.
Bartholomeow, police sources investigating the murder of St Peter’s rector Father KJ Thomas, say was a close associate of Fr Patrick, a priest arrested in the murder case.
Bangalore Archbishop Bernard Moras, while confirming the suspension, told Times of India newspaper: "He has received the order, I cannot comment on why he was suspended or any other details now. It's best you ask him (Bartholomeow)."
Each such incidents reinstates the urgent action to end strict celibacy. If the Protestant Church could survive without strict celibacy, the Catholic Church could survive too. What we need is a leadership willing to shed its ego and make sensible changes. None of us get any pleasure by sending a priest to the prison. Remember they are our brothers and their victims, our own children.